High nitrate levels

[KJ]

And I thought you were following me! Lol

Some times

 

[KJ]

Thank you everyone. What I have gathered from this is that I should start with water changes. How frequently should I do this?

Read this link very carefully that I posted above. Return this sea star to your local LFS and start over. That is my best advice to you .

 

[KJ]

IMHO the best thing to do to get the tank fish ready is to get rid of the star fish. they can and will attack and eat sleeping fish.

But other than that I would add macro algae like chaetomorphia to condition, balance out and stabilize the tank. And use some kind of partition to separate the (future) fish from the macros.

I think you will find thriving macro algaes will bring everything in like in a very short time and the tank will be very forgiving of my type of errors. And hopefully you types as well.

I would also do no water changes and adjust lights so the macros thrive but not the ugly algae.

my .02

Chocolate-chip star eat soft corals stony corals anemones Its not really a danger to fish . May eat inverrebrates.

 

[enw1229]

Besides the chocolate chip star, there are also two brittle stars. The previous caretaker of the tank said there were issues with the starfish eating other creatures in the tank, when there were other creatures. I'm not sure how the biology dept. would feel about completely getting rid of the starfish, but there is another empty tank that at one point was also a saltwater tank (but everything died). One option would be to keep the starfish in the current tank and start totally new with the other tank and put fish in that one. I attached a pic of the empty tank.

 

[KJ]

Besides the chocolate chip star, there are also two brittle stars. The previous caretaker of the tank said there were issues with the starfish eating other creatures in the tank, when there were other creatures. I'm not sure how the biology dept. would feel about completely getting rid of the starfish, but there is another empty tank that at one point was also a saltwater tank (but everything died). One option would be to keep the starfish in the current tank and start totally new with the other tank and put fish in that one. I attached a pic of the empty tank.

Yes good idea

 

[beaslbob]

+1
1) use egg crate to partition the back 2" of the other tank.
2) add lights point forward behind the tank to illuminate that area.
3) start the tank as you would other wise.
4) put chaetomorphia in the area between the back glass and egg crate.
5) wait one week.
6) add a single male molly (sure acclimate first)
7) do not add any food for a week.
8) start feeding a single flake per day.
once the molly has lived 3 weeks add true marine fish and return the molly if you want to the lfs.

my .02

 

[jsker]

Setup one tank as your display tank and the other as you sump. there is stuff on campus from different department that you could make you own part for filtration pretty quick. And buy the rest which would not be to much of an expense.

 

[jsker]

From the looks of the picture you posted you are going to need
lighting hit up @revhtree from R2R for a donation or turn you on to a sponsor
filter (use one tank as a sump) glass sections and silicone
Protein skimmer. made one 20 years ago for $50, and again you can find the materials on campus (acrylic tubing chem lab or maintenance)
tubing
a couple of pumps
drop box over flow, this would be something you could purchase
small power head (find a sponsor)
heater
this what you would need for basic setup on the cheap
good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

 

[andrew.tilson.9]

Carbon dosing will get the nitrates down more cost effectively. Also be careful to drop it to quick not to shock anything that is in the tank currently. I use red sea po4x myself as a form of carbon dosing. Requires daily dosing though.

 

[bigdaddy20102]

Wipe it out and start fresh